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7 Ways to Turn Your Gaming Skills into Money

Feb 25, 2019 • 6 min read

Plair

Being a gamer is fun for sure, but you are constantly tempted to pay. Your ‘investment’ shouldn’t be one-way though. Esports is projected to reach 1.1 billion USD in 2019 which allows gamers of all types to capitalize on the opportunity!

To get started, here are several ways to start turning your esports skills into money:

1. Selling In-game Items for MoneyThe idea is simple: farm in-game currency and level up characters to sell for money. It’s a good way to practice your skills. However, the income is one-off which means you are giving up leverages in the games once you sold them, and there are certain risks involved as the price fluctuates and the value highly depends on the item's popularity. If you are unable to find a buyer, all your hard work may simply go down the drain. Considering you are investing a lot of time and effort, gamers should not solely rely on this as the only source of income but should look for long-term investment.

2. Video Game TesterBeing a gamer, you can utilize your skills to give feedback to video games and sports-related products. Bear in mind that this job is not 100% esports-focused. You may end up being a quality assurance tester instead of enjoying the game. Game developers usually look for office-based testers or require certain software development background. On the other hand, there are some task-based testing recruitment that worth a shoot. Plair Alpha Test recruited over 1200+ testers last month and set a standing 250K PLA reward, giving the testers a more flexible working environment. Filling up surveys and testing the tournament functions on purpose rather than enjoying the game is not something every gamer are interested in though. So make sure you are committed to this field before investing your time to study all the technical skills required.

3. Publishing Game Guides and WalkthroughsYou will be able to share your skills and get featured! Streaming and articles are the pillar contents that help you gather a sizeable audience. Yet, the influencer personality and portfolio require tremendous efforts to build. You will have to exchange gaming insights for nothing at the very beginning. Well-established esports news websites usually featured popular influencers to drive traffic. We recommend trying esports platforms or discord channel that support self-promotion to give your following a push.

4. Pro Gamer SalaryThis source of income is much stable than the others. Statics shows the average monthly salaries of pro gamers can range from $1,000 USD to $5,000 USD, whereas the highest paid League of Legends players can earn up to $15,000 USD per month, and the packages usually come with multi-year contracts plus the what they earn from the prize pools. Just like NBA, the leagues are looking for the best of the best to sign contracts. Beginners can start playing on platforms that reward gamers as a supplement income.

5. Prize PoolsThe size of the tournament prize pool is definitely worth fighting for. The International 2018 set a record-breaking record $25,532,177 USD prize, ranking the first on the list of the largest prize pools in esports. Not a fan of Dota 2? Epic Games just announced its first-ever Fortnite World Cup offering $30 million total in prizes. These “elite-only” tournaments are, however, not made for solo players. To get into the pro-gamers exclusive club, you’ll need a tremendous amount of work. The first step could be to start organizing your own tournaments to familiarize yourself with the rules. Do follow Plair’s development plan because the Plair platform will empower users by offering users the chance to host their own tournaments.

6. Streaming Ad RevenueMore loyal viewers will directly boost up your viewership, converting to advertisement income. Data shows esports viewers spent 17.9 million hours watching on streaming channels in the 1st quarter of 2018. It is foreseen that the esports audience will grow 15 % to 454 million USD this year. Streaming channels on dominating platforms such as YouTube Gaming and Twitch are easy to set up yet competition is intense. Keeping an eye on rising platforms with streaming features, such as Plair, is surely a priority for gamers nowadays.

7. Build Your Own Esports TeamSince "Union is strength”, you can pull together a group of passionate players who share the same interest. Building a semi-pro team or even league together is not the challenge, making it grow is. Networking is very important in this case. To reach out to a huge group of people, you will have to build a strong network through esports platforms. Register for an account on Plair is free! Wait till its launch and meet friends who love esports.

There’s no doubt that esports has burst into the mainstream. To seize this opportunity, you will have to choose the right tactic and right platform to build up your profile or do some free advertisement. The industry is still at its formative stage and constantly changing, always be prepared to embrace chances!

* Plair is NOT AFFILIATED, AUTHORIZED, LICENSED OR ENDORSED by Dota™, Dota 2™, Steam™, PLAYERUNKNOWN’S BATTLEGROUNDS, PUBG, PUBG…Dota 2™, the Dota logo® and Steam™ are trademarks of Valve Corporation. PLAYERUNKNOWN’S BATTLEGROUNDS and PUBG are registered trademarks, trademarks or service marks of PUBG and the PUBG Corporation.